Omega takes us back to the moon

Omega has just announced their latest Dark Side collection, the Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8. This wild-looking Speedmaster features a decorated Moonwatch movement and is “laser ablated” in an effort to show “realistic imagery of the lunar surface” on the blackened bridges. The face itself is almost skeletonized although the entire thing remains true to the standard Speedmaster design.

The watch commemorates Apollo 8’s mission to see the dark side of the moon. From the release:

“WE’LL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE” – the special words engraved on the caseback – were spoken by Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell on board the Apollo 8 mission at the start of the crew’s pioneering orbit to the dark side of the moon – a mysterious hemisphere never seen before by human eyes. Seconds before the spacecraft disappeared beyond the range of radio contact, Lovell spoke these final assuring words to ground control.

There is no pricing or availability for this beautiful manual wound piece but I suspect it will be in the $8,000 to $12,000 range.

Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8

“We’ll see you on the other side”
50 years after the Apollo 8 mission, the first to orbit around the moon, OMEGA is proudly releasing its newest Dark Side of the Moon timepiece. Unlike previous Dark Side models, this release houses a specially decorated version of OMEGA’s famous Moonwatch movement – a calibre that deserves to be seen!
To display the workings inside, the dial of this timepiece has been expertly skeletonised. Inside, laser ablation has been used to precisely decorate the bridges and main plate of the blackened movement, producing realistic imagery of the lunar surface. And like the moon, it reveals two unique sides. The dial-side is a light shade to represent our view of the moon’s surface from Earth, while the back of the watch delves into the dark side that only astronauts get to see.
In this new creation, OMEGA has again embraced its popular “Dark Side of the Moon” innovation, producing the entire watch in black zirconium oxide ceramic. To contrast this dark tone, the brand has chosen a yellow colour coding. OMEGA first used colour coding in its Speedmaster collection in 1968 for a Speedmaster Racing model. Today, because yellow is often most closely associated with speed, it was seen as the ideal choice for this new watch.
The chronograph hands are varnished yellow, while the watch’s tachymeter scale and crown are filled with Super-LumiNova. The black and yellow theme extends to the leather strap, which contains a section of yellow rubber through the middle. A milling tool has then been used to create micro perforations through the constructed strap to reveal the yellow rubber inside.
“WE’LL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE” – the special words engraved on the caseback – were spoken by Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell on board the Apollo 8 mission at the start of the crew’s pioneering orbit to the dark side of the moon – a mysterious hemisphere never seen before by human eyes. Seconds before the spacecraft disappeared beyond the range of radio contact, Lovell spoke these final assuring words to ground control.
Few people will ever get to witness the moon’s mysterious distant surface at close range, but to wear the OMEGA Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon Apollo 8 is to make an authentic connection to space travel history. Its blackened and decorated version of the Calibre 1861 – called 1869 as a tribute to the first moon landing – is a close reminder of the original Moonwatch movement and OMEGA’s unrivalled legacy in space.